This invention relates to a milling cutter, and more particularly to a tool holder having a pair of clamping components forming a slot for receiving a milling cutting insert.
Milling cutters are commonly used in industry for a variety of metal cutting operations. A problem with conventional milling cutters is supporting a replaceable cutting insert. It is sometimes difficult to ensure that the cutting insert is on the centerline of the tool during a cutting operation.
A purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved tool holder for supporting a milling cutter insert.
The preferred embodiment of the invention comprises an elongated tool holder body having a shank at one end and a clamping component at the opposite, cutter head end. The shank is suited for connecting to a rotating driving means. A second removable clamping component is fastened to the tool holder body adjacent the first clamping component to form a slot for receiving the cutting insert. A fastener directly connects one clamping component to the other clamping component.
A camming screw passes through aligned holes in the two clamping components and a central hole in the cutting insert to connect the insert to the tool holder body.
The inner edge of the cutting insert has a V-shaped edge however it may take other configurations. The tool holder body has a V-shaped seat for receiving the V-shaped edge of the cutting insert to prevent it from being moved with respect to the tool holder body during a metal cutting procedure.
The camming screw biases the insert toward the V-shaped seat.
The first clamping component has an elongated longitudinal ridge. The second removable clamping component has a slot that mates with the ridge to prevent any lateral movement of one of the clamping components with respect to the other clamping component.
Some prior art related to this technology includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,575,670 issued Jun. 10, 2003 to Yuri Men for “Cutting Tool Assembly and Cutting Insert Therefor”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,719 issued Jul. 13, 1999 to Robert P. Laflamme for “Insert Holder with Top Clamp”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,589 issued Jul. 21, 1998 to John M. Cole for “Milling Cutter”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,194 issued Dec. 3, 1996 to Amir Satran et al. for “Cutting Tool”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,316 issued Nov. 12, 1991 to Stojan Stojanovski for “Ball Nose Milling Tool”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,383 issued Feb. 24, 1987 to Harold W. Lindsay for “End Milling Cutter and Method of Making Same” U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,711 issued Oct. 8, 1985 to Jimmy B. Dooley for “Tool Using Replaceable Bits”; and Publication No. 2001/0033776 published Oct. 25, 2001 to Stefano Villa for “Cutter Plate and Cutting Tool for Machining”.
Still further objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains upon reference to the following detailed description.